We all know that Thais are addicted to entertainment, but they have a very unique taste when it comes to what they like. Netflix knows this too (at least, they know it now).
After years of trying different strategies that never really worked out, including hiring foreigners to write screenplays for Thai-targeted shows, Netflix Thailand hired ex-GDH exec-slash-producer-slash-director Yingyuth Thongkongtun as its Director of Content in 2021. He spent months working with some of the country’s best production teams and the result is six films and programs written and directed by Thais, and primed for Thai tastes.
You have The Lost Lotteries, a Pruke Emruji film about a pack of losers who are trying to steal a winning lotto ticket back from gangsters. Starring teen star Sky Wongrawee, it will stream globally on 17 November.
Award-winning director Wisit Sasanatieng debuts on Netflix with The Murderer (working title), a satire that focuses on an English man who is accused of murdering his Thai father-in-law. This film sees the return of legendary comedian Mum Jokmok to the screen.
Sitthisiri Mongkolsiri’s Hunger follows a cook who left her mom-and-pop noodle shop for a fine-dining kitchen only to discover the dark side of the gourmet food industry. Hunger stars Aokbab Chutimon and Nopachai Jayanama.
Analog Squad by Nithiwat Tharathon is a heartwarming series that will transport you back to right before the world rang in the year 2000. The film stars teen actor JJ Kritsanapoom as one of a group of strangers who are trying to fix their lives by bonding together as a fake family.
Nonsi Nimibut returns to directing with Mon Rak Nak Pak (working title), a romance-drama about a team of pharmaceutical reps hoping to sell medicines via outdoor cinema screenings. (The film is inspired by how reps would screen a free outdoor movie (mostly in upcountry Thailand) and then sell pharmaceutical products during the halftime break. The screening would not resume if their quota wasn’t met. Thus, upcountry people nicknamed free outdoor movies nang kai ya, which translates as “selling-meds movie”.) Mon Rak Nak Pak stars Weir Sukollawat, Nuna Nuengthida, and Kao Chirayu.
The last—and probably most exciting—one is Parkpoom Wongpoom’s first-ever horror series Delete (working title). The director is behind some of Thailand’s most famous horror films, including Shutter (2004), Alone (2007), 4bia (2008), and Homestay (2018), so we have high hopes for this new piece of work, which we know so little about. Apparently, Delete will revolve around secrets, tangled relationships, and how one can “delete” another from memory. A GDH production, the series stars Thailand’s best young actors such as Nut Kitcharit (Hurts Like Hell), Ice Natara Nopparattayapon (One for the Road), and Aokbab Chutimon (Bad Genius).
Netflix will announce streaming schedules later.